| # | Artist | Song (click to play) | Album | Year | CD label |
| 1 | Carpe Diem | Le Miracle de la Saint-Gaston | Cueille le Jour | 1977 | Musea |
| This is the second of Carpe Diem's only 2 albums. Both albums are French prog classics. When listening to the 2 Carpe Diem albums, you can hear their influence on many other French prog bands to follow. The 21 minute "Couleurs" is a magnificent piece of every developing melodies. | |||||
| 2 | Super Freego | Rock II (pour une poignee de frites) | Pourquoi es-tu si Mechant? | 1982 | RCA (LP only) |
| Super Freego is a pretty wild ride of progressive (new wave?). I can hear influences of Talking Heads, especially the Fripp/Eno collaborations with TH. There is some fiery guitar playing. The guitar style and riffs remind me of some guitar player, but, I cannot think of who it is. There are some Jeff Beck-isms, for sure. | |||||
| 3 | Catharsis | Melba | Volume 5: Le Bolero du Veau des Dames | 1976 | Spalax |
| This is a mostly instrumental keyboard-heavy album. Lots of one-celled Hammond Organisms and Farfisa. It is very nice melodic stuff that is not too demanding. I have heard the group compared to Pink Floyd, but, I do not hear it - at least, not on this album. Earlier albums are reportedly more psychedelic. | |||||
| 4 | William Sheller | Hare Krishna | Lux Aeterna | 1975 | CBS (LP) |
| This album is true classical rock album mixing choirs, a near full orchestra, and rock instruments. The orchestra sound is more in control than the rock instrumentation, though. There was a CD run of this in Japan, but, the CD is very rare - just as rare as the LP. | |||||
| 5 | Rhesus O | Cigue | Rhesus O | 1971 | Musea |
| This is an early French jazz/rock excursion in the vein of Soft Machine 4/5. Hence, there is a certain early Canterbury flair to the music. The emphasis is more towards jazz than rock. The band features future Magma members Francois Moze and Jean-Pol Asseline. There also seems to be a small amount of contemporary Miles Davis influence, a la _In a Silent Way_, in the some of the more psychedelic moments. This album becomes more interesting to me, the more that I listen to it. Recommended if you like early Soft Machine and Moving Gelatine Plates. | |||||
| 6 | Eskaton | Eskaton | Eskaton | 1979 | Ad Perpetuam Memoriam |
| This album ranks very highly among many prog fans. This band graduated with honors from the Magma Zeuhl University. The band features two female vocalist. The compositions are intricate, powerful, and played with incredible precision. This album was originally only released in the US on cassette! Highly recommended. | |||||